A fortnight ago, an event on the campus of the University of Lagos campus has brought to fore gaping holes in the manner in which the health centres in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions are being run. A student of the institution, Oluchi Anekwe was on her way back to her hostel after seeing off her sister when a live wire fell on her and she was electrocuted. She was rushed to the university’s health centre thereafter.
The young lady was reportedly still alive on arrival at the university health centre. Nkem, Oluchi’s sister, had told the media that “Oluchi was still alive by the time she was being rushed to the medical centre but the doctors and nurses refused to attend to her unless they saw her identity card was produced to confirm that she was a student. That was how the girl died there. The most shocking part was that when I got there, Oluchi wasn’t even placed on a bed; they wrapped her body and placed it on the floor. I told the doctor that it is wrong for them to have done that because sometimes the person could still be alive at that point.” Today, Oluchi is no more.
Mayowa, a student of the University of Ibadan, is yet another victim who had died due to the nonchalant attitude of the university’s health centre.
Mayowa had slumped while watching a football match at his hall of residence due to poor ventilation. Narratting what happened on that fateful day, an eye-witness, a student who simply gave his name as Afeez, said the “JCR room where students watch football matches was crammed with students; owing to this fact, there was poor ventilation in room and Mayowa slumped due to the shortage of fresh air in the room.
“Afterwards, he was quickly brought out of the JCR and students called the health centre informing them to come with their ambulance, but the ambulance delayed.
“Twenty minutes later, Mayowa was rushed to the health centre, popularly known as Jaja Clinic via a private car. Unfortunately, he was not attended to swiftly owing to the fact that he was not with his health centre card we call ‘Jaja card,’” Afeez said.
Mayowa’s death led to a peaceful protest which shut down academic activities in the University of Ibadan for two days.
However, officials of the health centre rebuffed students’ position, stressing that Mayowa was brought in dead and there was nothing they could have done to save him.
In his reaction to this issue, an official who pleaded anonymity told Nigerian Tribune that: “I was part of the panel instituted by the vice-chancellor to investigate what happened. We gathered that he was dead already before he was brought to the hospital.”
He, however, added that the health centre was to blame due to their “slow response” to Mayowa’s emergency case especially with the late arrival of the health centre’s ambulance.
In other parts of the country, the situation seems to be no different.
At the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Tochi Uzor, a student said she escaped death by the whiskers when she was rushed to the university’s medical centre. Tochi said she was told that the doctor was not available and she was left unattended to.
“I was stranded for three hours and they gave me an inferior drug making my predicament worse,” Uzor said.
At the University of Benin, the vast majority of students passed a vote of no confidence in the university’s health centre established to serve both staff and students. They said they prefer the university’s teaching hospital, University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) to the health centre.
Victor, a student at UNIBEN told Nigerian Tribune that “they do not offer quality service at the health centre and this discourages students from visiting the medical centre.
“Their poor service has been an issue that most students have been complaining about. Students prefer going outside to UBTH and other private hospitals for treatment. I once visited the place, it was clean with a number of staff but then students and staff don’t trust their services,” Victor said.
Dr. Ola Adeagbo, is the Director of Medical Services, The Polytechnic Ibadan. He told Nigerian Tribune that he does not agree that most institution’s health centre be regarded as ‘death centres.’
“I don’t subscribe to that. The problem with students generally in higher institutions is that they are never satisfied; they are Oliver Twists and many of them that have such impressions have never been to the health centre of their institutions. There is nothing that you’ll look for in any primary health centre that you won’t find here, including resuscitative equipments, ambulances, and so on,” he stated.
He said further that in his health centre, “We have four doctors and 15 nurses, just like in a general hospital. The problem with students is that they don’t want to be delayed for even two minutes at the health centre. They want you to attend to them immediately they come in without you checking their medical history and they are never satisfied.
“Medical treatments at the health centre is given free of charge. Some students take up to two or even three drips and some are admitted at the health centre for days for proper medication without paying; you can ask them. So, many who make such statements should ask those that have been there to enjoy the service before making such a fuss.”
Dr Adeagbo claimed that The Polytechnic, Ibadan health centre was able to handle emergencies. “We are able to handle most cases. There are rarely cases that we can’t handle well because we have professionals and even good equipments like resuscitative equipment, there are drugs and injections that can be used to treat patients. So, we rarely refer cases; but if there is need for such, they are taken or referred to state government hospitals or tertiary health centres like UCH. We have working ambulances ready to convey them and the ambulances are accompanied by staff members in the rarely referred cases.”
Asked if there had been any deaths at the polytechnic’s health centre, Dr Adeagbo said he could only recollect about one or two.
“I have been here for about 15 years or so; I can say if there is any casualty it was due to students’ carelessness or the carelessness of their colleagues. I can say we’ve had only one, at most two, and it was due to carelessness on the student’s part. The boy had been sick in the hostel for about two weeks stooling and they were giving him native herbs (agbo) right in the hostel without informing or even bringing him to the health centre. It was when the boy was almost dead that they now brought him and all efforts to resuscitate him proved abortive. Even the ambulance was already waiting to take him to the hospital if we were able to resuscitate him but he gave up the ghost because they brought him too late,” he said.
Students of the polytechnic spoken to by Nigerian Tribune expressed some satisfaction with the health centre. One student who simply gave his name as Alaba, said, “Our school’s health centre is a health centre not a ‘death centre’ but they still need more facilities. Even concerning the workers there, they still need more experienced people that can work very well.
Another student of the polytechnic, Banjo Kehinde, “Our health centre is a very good place in a conducive environment. They also have good equipment to take care of students.”
Speaking on what standard procedures should be during emergencies, Dr Paul Metieh, Chief Medical Director of St Charles Specialist Hospital in Surulere, Lagos said, “Doctors are trained to save lives.”
He said, “Emergencies do not need any delay at all. That person is in need of immediate attention and so the issue of card or no card should not come up. For a student, talking about payment should not come up because they are under the custody of the university.”
Dr Metieh who was trained in the United States of America said, “The Hippocratic Oath which every doctor wherever they are in the world swears to demands that they do all they can to save lives. Once a patient comes under your custody you are responsible for that life. If you don’t do what you are supposed to do to save that life you will be held responsible.”
He added that in the case of university health centres, “the authorities of the university cannot be exonerated because all that goes on in the health centre is the concern of the authorities.”
A doctor in the University of Uyo who preferred to remain anonymous was of the opinion that showing a clinic card was needed “because every patient in the hospital has a file that contains the medical history of the patient. That card is necessary for the file to be traced so that the right treatment can be given to the patient.”
In their study of university health centres, Obiechina G O, Ekenedo G. O., “Factors affecting utilisation of University health services in a tertiary institution in South-West Nigeria, the researchers aimed to determine the factors affecting utilisation of university health services in south west Nigeria.
Based on the findings of the study it was concluded that high cost of drugs, non availability of essential drugs, time spent waiting for treatment, inadequate referral services and satisfaction with services were factors affecting utilisation of university health services among students in the region.
In their recommendation for the study, they stated that “the university authority and the government should endeavour to make essential drugs available as well as post qualified and adequate staff to the university health services. In addition, the government should make necessary efforts to incorporate tertiary institutions into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) so that students above the age of 18 years can benefit from free treatment.”
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